Wednesday Thing Coaster

[Snow Builder]

Was thinking it’d be fun to make a coaster using Wednesday’s Thing as the main piece.

Let’s start with a piece of EVA.

Time to put in a wire armature.

Made a wrist/support and attached to the hand.

More to come.

 

[Leinads]

Awesome!

 

[Snow Builder]

Awesome!

Thanks!

Fleshed out the palm with foam clay, posed the hand then used a Dremel and sandpaper to start shaping and refining.

 

[Snow Builder]

Started sculpting the finger pads and the back of the wrist

I think I’m going to have to reshape/shave the thumb, but everything else is starting to look good to me.

 

[Snow Builder]

Been working on the front of the hand. Fingers and palm are getting close.

 

[Leinads]

It’s looking good! How do you like working with foam clay? I’m dabbling a bit in it for the first time and initially found it a tad counterintuitive. Now I think it‘s pretty wild stuff!

 

[Snow Builder]

It’s looking good! How do you like working with foam clay? I’m dabbling a bit in it for the first time and initially found it a tad counterintuitive. Now I think it‘s pretty wild stuff!

There was a thread from several years ago that I wish I could locate, a member was building a Star Trek Wrath of Khan phaser using plumbers epoxy. It was a brilliant build and the poster was using the epoxy because it was inexpensive. But, it meant he had short working times and some challenges specific to that material. Working with the foam clay I'm very much reminded of that thread.

I'm working with it because:
- It's flexible and won't crack
- I have it on hand
- It's inexpensive

I think the feel of the clay is fascinating, it's really light relative to its mass. When tearing off a piece it acts like silly putty, stringy and sticky. It's very formable and can be worked with regular clay sculpting tools. It (mostly) blends easily, and I can soften and smooth it using water and my fingers.

The down side is it cures pretty quickly, so I work in sections. The clay does not take fine detail and its appearance changes a little bit as it cures. And, I can't get a good blend between a cured section and a new section -but, I'll do some light sanding on it after its complete and that'll take care of most of the bad blends (I also think my grungy paint job will hide a lot of sins).

Hope this helps, how are you finding it so far?

 

[Snow Builder]

Initial sculpt on Thing is getting close. Fingers and palm done. Stitches complete. Wrist is started and needs one more session. Then I’ll start working on the base and cleanup.

 

[Leinads]

Whoa, Snow Builder you’ve made a lot of progress in the last few days! Nice detail work on the fingers and cuts.
Also thank you for asking about my take on foam clay - I love working with it too! It’s versatile, somewhat stubborn and often has a real mind of its own (like Hand?) Kinda feels alive, right? The ability to work + sand the product through the curing stages is amazing, and this is evident in your latest pics. I see he’s also quite the contortionist ; probably his newly acquired stitches!

 

[Snow Builder]

Not sure if it shows in the pics, sanded and smoothed Thing. Getting pretty close to paint.

 

[Snow Builder]

Done!

 

[13doctorwho]

When you put mugs on it do you say "Here, hold my beer"...

Came out really well. Very cool!!!

 

[Leinads]

This turned out really well! Your painting details look good and you have the weight/ balance worked-out (me thinks ) Was that difficult figuring out? Nice job!

 

[13doctorwho]

He balanced it by attaching to that book. That gave it a large surface area base for support. Looks great!

 

[Leinads]

And… is precisely why I wear glasses omg

 

[Snow Builder]

He balanced it by attaching to that book. That gave it a large surface area base for support. Looks great!

And… is precisely why I wear glasses omg

Thanks for the kind words!

I actually hollowed out the book and inserted a piece of wood to stiffen the base further. It's really rock-solid and I left enough pages at the top and bottom of the book so that they curl and act "book like". The funny thing is that when I pick it up I forget that the book is attached .

On to the next project....